The Makalali Game Reserve, part of the aha Hotels & Lodges portfolio, has become the newest addition to the Wild Dog Range Expansion Project as part of ongoing efforts to save the species from extinction.
Co-ordinated by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and the Wild Dog Advisory Group of South Africa (WAG SA), the ultimate goal is to reverse the decline of wild dogs globally by actively increasing their populations and range throughout southern Africa.
This is achieved by establishing, maintaining and expanding safe space for the animals; reducing threats to their survival; ensuring positive changes in human-based values to wild dogs; and supporting laws to better protect them.
Despite this, wild dogs are still among the most threatened animals in Africa, under severe threat from snaring, poaching, disease, roadkill, and habitat loss. In southern Africa, EWT has helped reverse this continent-wide trend, and the population has stabilised at around 500 individuals.
A recent relocation has been made possible thanks to a group effort by aha Hotels & Lodges, EWT, WAG SA, the owners of Makalali Game Reserve in Limpopo, and Rob Panos, Makalali Reserve Manager.
While wild dogs have passed through Makalali before, the introduction of this new, young pack of four aims to make the species a permanent fixture in the reserve. The two young males, named ‘Nyezi’ and ‘Mkhovu’, were born in 2016 and are the ideal age to start their own pack. The females, ‘Zeyheri’ and ‘Pacman’, were born in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
The pack was successfully relocated to Makalali on June 9, thanks to the EWT Carnivore Conservation Programme’s Cole du Plessis and Grant Beverley, and is currently being held in the section of the predator boma on the premises. In a few months, they will be fully released into the wild.
Aha Hotels & Lodges and Makalali contributed much-needed funds to make the pack’s introduction to Makalali possible. Aha CEO, Graeme Edmond, was also on site to lend a hand to the EWT team and Dr Joel Alves from Wildlife Vets SA, by taking samples, fitting a GPS collar to one of the males, and loading the dogs into the custom-designed crates for the long drive from KZN to Limpopo.
Edmond says: “This project is something that’s very close to my heart and I’m over the moon that I could get aha Hotels & Lodges involved in finding a new home for these endangered animals. We’ll be paying close attention to their progress in Makalali and will continue to support the process in any way we can.”
